Real world evangelism in New Zealand

The first quarter continues well. We are grateful for our students, instructors, coordinators, and supporters!

The students in the Personal Evangelism 1 course have had 123 religious conversations, set fifteen Bible studies, and conducted nine Bible studies in the past month. Keep praying for them and the souls they reach out to!

Dora, one of our recent graduates, organised our presence in a local market in October. Our BV students participated by speaking to people and handing out literature. 

Thank you to everyone who is interested in our work.

Lance Mosher, BVBINZ Director

Evangelism in Ukraine

Dear brethren,

I'd like to share with you the news about our Bible Institute and some local congregations of the Church of Christ.

First of all, I need to clarify some details about the book publishing project. Jim Mettenbrink asked me to do so. He is not the author of the book that was published in Bela Tserkva. The Commentary on Isaiah was written by Homer Hailey and Robert Harkrider.

In October our first-year students had Christian Apologetics (Instructor Albert Bagdasaryan) and Hermeneutics (Dennis Sopelnik). The second-year students had Intertestamental Period (Dennis Sopelnik) and Minor Prophets (Andrew Zhuravlev).

Currently our students have a week of evangelism practice. They return to their local congregations and help the ministry of the Church. It is a wonderful opportunity for them to get real life knowledge of interacting with people in the church ministry. Ruslan Gaevsky and Oleg Fofanov went back to their home town of Konstantinovka where they work with the local congregation. They teach classes and do street evangelism. Our students Rosa, Lena and Masha went to Kramatorsk and Slovyansk to work with children. Eldjune Aliev who is a first year student managed to visit more than one congregation in Poltava and Kamenskoe. He does a good job encouraging the church members and many brethren are very thankful for his help. We made a few efforts of street evangelism in Bela Tserkva as well. People were curious, they would come and look at the Biblical literature, ask questions about the Church and promise to come but fail to keep the promise.

This week we host the Masters Program at the church building. This is the last in-class session for our future graduates. As far as I understand the big picture we have three graduates from Masters program in the upcoming year Uriy Romanov, Bogdan Chigvintsev and Dmitry Kuropiatnikov. I will try to involve them in the program upon their graduation, encourage them to help us out in the capacity of Instructors. During the 3 years of study they proved to be diligent students with good grades and they all have desire to use their talents in the Kingdom.

I'd like to request your prayers for Sveta who has been a regular visitor in the church for the last six months. We will schedule more specific Bible study on her personal salvation. Her daughter Katia and she come to all church activities and try to live Christian life. We introduced them to the Word of God gradually and now we need to encourage her to make the most important decision so she will have eternal life with God.

In November and December we usually have Ukrainian Instructors. These are the colder months of the year and it's reasonable to use local preachers and teachers. Beginning November 12 we start the second quarter that will end on December 21.

May God continue to bless you. Greetings to all churches, individual brothers and sisters who help us in our Ministry.

Your brother and co-worker,

Dennis Sopelnik.

A good harvest in Tamale

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE, TAMALE

OCTOBER REPORT 2018

We once again thank almighty God for His protection and guidance throughout the term. For we know that we won’t be able to make it this far without your prayer and support, may the good Lord replenish you all for your brotherly concern for His work in Tamale, Ghana.

                                                    STUDENTS ON VACATION

Here comes yet another successful end of the term (seventh term). All the students went back home for three weeks break to visit their families and churches so they can keep their members active in the church activities and also attend to their farming activities. The students will be coming back on November 11th 2018 to continue their academic activities and it’s our prayer and hope that God keep all of them safe in their daily activities while they are away from school.

                                                         LECTURESHIP

The last two courses for the last term were prison epistles and Hermeneutics and were dealt with by brothers Adjei Mensah and James Legend. Class work and all exams conducted and students’ performance were encouraging.

                                                     ADMINISTRATIVE WORK

We are working closely to improve the image of the school in Tamale, our efforts concerning new recruitment for next academic year has yielded positive results.  Twelve legitimate prospective students have submitted their admission forms and we want to believe that we shall obtain require target of twenty students for the school for next academic year 2019.

LADIES SEMINAR

Church of Christ women in the three northern regions conducted marriage seminar and it was held at Tamale Institute of Biblical Studies facilities from 25th October 2018- 28th October 2018.

The participants arrived on 25th October 2018 and on that same day evening the program opened with songs and prayers and introduction was also made, and the next day Friday was used for fasting and prayers alongside with teaching. There was an intensive teaching and learning the next day and even in the night and series of questions concerning marriage were asked and properly addressed.

The fourth day Sunday was a fantastic Lord’s Day: East, West and T poly Churches of Christ attended and worshipped at Tamale Institute of Biblical Studies. Brother Nipak Laar from Saboba led in Bible studies, brother Andrews from Yendi led in sermon and brother Dasah from Tamale East Church of Christ led in the Lord Supper and giving. Attendance was three hundred and fifty six (356) and the giving was one thousand nine hundred and sixty eight Ghana cedis (¢1968.00) about $410.00

All the participants departed to their various homes after the worship except those from Kumasi and Accra who left the next day and have all arrived home safely.

                                        SCHOOL FARM

The school farm (maize) has been harvested and threshed, and God has blessed us with ten bags (10) of maize. The Thresher man took one bag as workmanship and one bag also shared among staff, security and students and left with eight bags (8).

From the staff in Tamale, Ghana

Continued progress in Cambodia

Warm greetings from Cambodia and the International Bible Institute of Siem Reap!

Our first trimester of IBISR's academic year ended on the 4th of November, 2018. Piseth Rin is one of our instructors and his course was about on Scheme of Redemption

Vannak Yeng is also one of our instructors and his course was about (How to study the Bible). We're having a break this week and we will resume on the 12th of November, 2018. 

PUBLIC HOLIDAY

On the 8th - 14th of October, there was a public holiday in Cambodia called (Pchum Ben festival). We were closed for that week. When the students returned we allowed them to share their experiences and how they felt between Christian and the people in their hometowns during that time. We truly received a lot of feedback about how our students had changed for the better, since having participated in the Bible school. 

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 

Thanks to Wes Autrey our coordinator for regularly staying in touch with us. Especially, as we are studying during our chapel times on Friday mornings via Skype. It was very helpful for our school because of the experienced teachers from overseas sharing Gods words with us. It has improved our understanding and relationship with God and one another. Our new students were very impressed with all of the efforts to help them in understanding, even we were far away from each other. 

CAMPING 

We are preparing for our annual Christian camp in Kampong Speu. We are exceedingly happy with the support help in getting some money to pay for the camp fees. If not for the support we could not take many people who want to learn about God in a friendly environment and influence them in a positive and spiritual way.  When we posted the camp logo on the messenger group, they were impressed and loved it so much

Last but not least, we would like to thanks for your support and kindness in helping out with the all of work in Cambodia. Without your help, we couldn't do all things. But we also surely know that God is the best one who made it happen.

God Bless His children,

Servants of Christ, 

Piseth Rin - Co Director

Pros Rok - Staff

Graduation upcoming in Wotutu

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings to you all from the beautiful Cameroon. We are up and going and are still very active with the work entrusted in our hands. Our God is still sitting on the throne and is watching. With the ongoing socio-political crisis in our country we still trust God and we are prayerfully waiting on Him to intervene and bring a lasting peace to the crisis. It seems that men are failing. Bigger nations who are supposed to intervene are still delaying to do so. WE AS CHRISTIANS ARE NOT PART OF THEIR CONCLUSION, WE KNOW WE ARE NOT CHILDREN OF A LESSER god. OUR GOD IS MIGHTY AND KNOWS THAT WE ARE HERE! Please keep praying for us.

All in Wotutu is well. Our students are busy with their studies without any interruptions from anyone. Our children at the orphanage are all well. Our Brightland schools will be on this week as we needed to take more care to get things going in the midst of the crisis.

Many displaced Christians from other areas who are in Wotutu can feel love among us. We are very thankful for your support both financially and prayerfully. Your financial support has help put food on tables, supply medicines to the sick and transportation for family members to move around to check on other displaced in other locations. It has also helped get minutes on phones for these displaced persons to communicate with love ones. You can see the wide range for which your financial support can touch lives. It not only goes for food, medicines, and clothes but it goes to every aspect of a needy displaced person. Please keep doing it. It is helping.

 PLANS

Graduation will be coming up on the 13 December starting at 12 noon. We shall also formally admit 20 new students who will start their journey in the Bear valley Bible Cameroon – Wotutu come January 2019. We have started preparing things for our graduation.

Thanks very much and God bless you.

Elangwe and family

By His grace director BVBIC-Wotutu

Challenges and opportunities in Zimbabwe

OCTOBER 2018 NARRATIVE REPORT

INTRODUCTION

The month of October has been a very difficult one for the country. When the new minister of Finance presented his monetary policy review which included 2% transfer tax on all transactions prices shot up within a few days. This also saw basic commodities including fuel disappearing from the market because of price uncertainties.. The school was not spared either as it exists in this environment. However, These commodities are slowly coming back on the market but with an increased price. But by and large, BVBIZ sailed through the month and we thank God for taking us this far despite these challenges even as we continue to seek for your prayers. The following are noteworthy;

1.0 CURRICULUM PROGRESS

Classes are progressing well. Three courses have so far been completed successfully. These are Books of Acts, Galatians, Godhead  and Entrepreneurship Skills Development. Our appreciation goes to Brothers’ Donnie Estep, Howard Suwari, Ishmael Mutichu and Panganai Toperesu for taking the students through these subjects. The other subjects are still on-going and will be completed in due course. These are;

Denominational Doctrines      l. Mutichu & M.Muchingami

Homiletics                              M.Muchingami

Hermeneutics                          M.Muchingami

Gospel of John                        I.Mutichu

OT History                              I.Mutichu

Godhead                                  I.Mutichu

2.0 DONNIE ESTEP’S VISIT

BVBIZ was blessed to have Donnie Estep, our regional Director,  from the 7th to the 12th of October. He had an intensive program. During his visit, he taught the Book of Acts daily. It was indeed a blessing to have him around. From Gweru, Donnie proceeded to Dzivarasekwa, in Harare, where he taught students on the extended program for two days. He taught a section of the Prison Epistles. This class started in January and will complete their second term soon.

3.0 EVANGELISM

The new class is now ready for full scale evangelism. Besides the normal weekend evangelism and field program, the school has also introduced a week long campaign. These campaigns can be done twice per term. Since the students will be having their teachers with them, some classes will be done whilst in the field. Those wishing to benefit from the program need to meet the cost of food and accommodation.

3.1 MAZOWE OUTREACH

On the 28th of September, students and teachers travelled to Mazowe for a week long evangelism Campaign. Mazowe is a mining and farming community. It was a moment for students to put into practice the theory learnt in class. The students were also opportuned to learn from other senior preachers from Harare who came to Mazowe on the 3rd and 4th of October. These were Brothers Jana, Botoman, Mukondwa and Mhindirira. Our great appreciation goes to them.

Several methods were used at Mazowe. Most of the houses were reached with the word as students moved in pairs. Services were also held every evening where the community was invited to attend. Each day saw many thronging the venue of the services. Several came for prayers and counselling. Brother Panganai Toperesu also came for an intrepreneurship skills development workshop which was also meant to benefit both the community and students. From all these efforts, 17 souls were added to the church.

Our appreciation goes to the local preacher, Lovemore Manyanhaire and his family for their sacrifices in feeding the students. We also appreciate some students on Harare’s extended class for sponsoring the program.

3.2 OTHER EFFORTS

Several other efforts were also done in Gweru and outside Gweru. Some students had a weekend in Chivhu and others at Mupfure church of Christ. Weekend evangelism in Gweru continued well. On the 27th of October, the students joined youths who converged at Mkoba 17 church of Christ for an evangelism outreach around the area. They provided worthy guidance to the youths who went around the area sharing the message of the cross. All these efforts saw 7 souls being baptized. This brings the total number of those who were baptized in the month to 24. To God be the glory!

3.3 UPCOMING EVENTS

Students shall complete their term with another one week campaign in two places. Students shall be subdivided into two groups and each will be having a teacher with them. Areas under consideration shall be Westgate and Kambuzuma. Another area shall be Ndabazinduna where few students shall spent three days evangelising the area from the 1st to the 4th of November. Weekend evangelism in Gweru will continue as normal. Please keep praying for these young men as they penetrate society with the saving message of Christ.

4.0 DONATION

The school would want to extend her profound gratitude to Brother Lawrence Chipunza for donating a desktop computer for use by students. It came at the right time. We also thank those who continue to extend their hand financially and in kind. May God continue to bless you all.

5.0 LAND

Great news! We have finally been given papers for the land we had been anticipating for long. Developments can now start on the land. Our activities including projects will need to be shifted there gradually when conditions permit. The land is 6 hectares and is located  at the outskirts of Gweru. We shall be writing more about this in the next reports.

CONCLUSION

As we look back into the past month, we give all glory and honour to God for taking us this far. The progress made with the curriculum, in evangelism, to donations and land all show God’s guidance in this endevour. The presence of you’re your support financially and in kind always propel BVBIZ to greater heights. To God be the glory!

Your brother,

Mathew Muchingam

Director, BVBI-Z

New student interviews in Accra

We are thankful to the Lord for reopening and have seen us through all the quarters and finally in our fourth quarter of the year 2018. Glory be to God in the Highest and our dear brethren.

BEGINNING OF NEW QUARTER

Hopefully, we have resumed back to school thus 7th October, 2018 and classes begun on 8th October, 2018.

Lessons as per the schools’ curriculum: Personal Evangelism 2, Homiletics 2, The New Testament Church 2, Old Testament 3, Bible Geography and 2 Corinthians respectively are being handled this last quarter of the year, 2018.

Instructors are all present and carrying out their teaching responsibilities. Our full time students are doing well but it is rather unfortunate that two of them – Steven Gedza and Baodi Samuel - are no longer with the Southern Institute of Biblical Studies - SIBS. Boadi Samuel has been admitted at the WESTCOAST whereas Steven Gedza has left for a company work.

Currently, the full time class are eleven (11) in number pursuing this fourth quarter’s courses.

STAFF MEETING

As by the school’s schedules for the staff meetings, it is the last but one staff meeting for this year, 2018. Agendas discussed at the meeting were evangelism programme in Tema C3, review of curriculum, staff visitation activities, graduation procedure for the weekend students, and preparation for new schools.

Staff Visitation

The instructors per the director’s order, have been instructed that they should visit all the congregations of which our students preached for. The instructors have been charged to encourage the churches and her leadership to support their preachers in school in terms of pocket money, transportation, etc.

Interview with New Students

As God richly blessed the school with will hearted instructor, supporters, and providential control so also the students increase in their numbers. These brethren were interviewed last Wednesday, 24th October, 2018; Kofi Antwi, Emmanuel Yao Ahorklo and Ransford Addai Adams for the weekend programme and Nana Adjei for full time programme.

OUR BEREAVED BROTHER

Brother Samuel Assifuah, one of our students’ father passed away and by the Grace of God the students, staff members and some of the church members went to Cape Coast on 27th October, 2018 to participate in the final funeral activities. We are most grateful to the Lord for safe trip.

Please continue to pray with us as we strive to serve Our God by training men to preach the Word of God.

From the staff of BVBI-N (Accra, Ghana)

A well rounded program in Nigeria

Beloved in Christ Jesus.

 Greetings from staff and students of BVBIN & SWSE IBADAN and fellow WBSFUW in Western State of Nigeria.

i. Evangelised Jago,Kupalo and Asejire on October.

ii.Practical week: October 22-26

iii.Vocational Training begins on October 27-November 23,2018

iv. Second semester classes begins on November 26,2018 Lord's willing.

2. SPECIAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: We have succeeded in repairing the South West Nursery and Primary school's van to our taste.

3. EVANGELISM : The staff and students and co-WBSFUW  evangelised at Jago and Kupalo village of Ona-Ara Local Government Area of Oyo State in the evening of  October 13 & 20,2018 and Asejire-Osun State on October 19-21. Three souls were added to the Lord's church in Asejire and two in Jago /Kupalo on October 20,2018

4. ABOUT A STUDENT: Bro.Olugbenga Ebenezer Ojo is one of our year two students.Born in year 1960 in Ife-Osun State. Added to the Lord's church in 2015 during our August annual Bible Lectureship and graduation. His mind is to serve the Lord in the Western state of Nigeria after his graduation on August 2019 Lord's willing.

5. OTHER COMMENTS: I taught on Godhead in the Sundays on the month of October using Bro.Jerry Bates book on Godhead at Oniyere-Ibadan,Isheri Oshun-Lagos state,Mile12 -Lagos and Agege congregation-Lagos state.

 A fellow WBSFUW and one of the major recipients of VOTI named Bro.M.B.Archiborn  reported the conversion of five souls as a result of the WBS seminar held in the Lord's church where he is ministering .

 CONCLUSION: We are very grateful for your moral and financial supports toward the growth of the Lord's church in Africa and the world as a whole. May the good God we are serving continue to bless all our works together in Jesus Christ name, amen.

I remain your fellow soldier of Christ,

MAKINDE Ebenezer Olufemi( Director of Studies & WBSFUW)

Successful agriculture projects in Zimbabwe

INTRODUCTION

Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” BVBIZ is part of the answer to this commission. The school exists to equip and mould labourers for this daunting task.   The agenda is to continue equipping faithful men and women for this cause. In the month of September, BVBIZ continued to advance this agenda in a variety ways. Of course, this could not have been possible without the partnership we share with you. This report is a capsule of some of the things we were able to do in September.

1.0 CLASSES RESUME

Students had been on break the whole month of August and the first week of September. All students came back for their second term of learning. Classes resumed on the 11th of September. The class is composed of 2 females and 12 males. We also have 6 students on our extended program. This brings our student complement in Gweru to 20.

2.0 CURRICULUM

The following subjects are being taught this term;

Denominational Doctrines                l. Mutichu & M.Muchingami

Homiletics                                        M.Muchingami

Hermeneutics                                   M.Muchingami

Book of Acts                                     D. Estep

Galatians                                           H.Suwari

Gospel of John                                  I.Mutichu

OT History                                        I.Mutichu

Godhead                                           I.Mutichu

Entrepreneurship Skills Dvpt.          P.Toperesu

3.0 EVANGELISM

3.1 EVANGELISM PREPARATION

Students are ready to start their evangelism proper. Since last term, it has been much of theory. A little bit of practice was done here and there.  As students are set to begin their weekend evangelism outreaches, we had Brother Ringisai Gushakusha, a knowledgeable man in this area, fine tuning them for the task ahead. He taught the students from the 19th-22nd of September.

3.2 WBS SEMINAR

On the 22nd of September, we hosted a World Bible School seminar at Booms Christian College in Mkoba. Students were exposed to this method of evangelism. Thousands of fliers were distributed by the students. They attended different classes which were subdivided according to denominational affiliation. Different teachers taught the classes. Two souls were added to the church that day with another one being baptized the following day. One is meeting with the Nashville congregation, another one at Mkoba 4 whilst the other one went to the Midlands State University (MSU) campus congregation. The one who was baptised on the 23rd is a student at MSU. Besides this seminar, one soul had been added the previous week. Therefore, 4 souls were baptized in September.

3.3 MAZOE OUTREACH

To increase the students’ confidence and experience, Teachers and students went to the Mazowe area for a week long evangelism outreach. The program shall run from the 28th of September and is set to end on the 7th of October. Students on the extended program (Harare class) had been to this area the previous weekend (22-23 September). The outcome of this program shall be reported in the October report.

4.0 ENTERPRENEURSHIP TRAINING

The school seeks to produce highly competent preachers who would impact the community positively.  A great emphasis is also being put on the acquisition of entrepreneurship skills that will help them as they preach the gospel. Churches will also benefit in the end. In their first term, they were taught poultry production, drip irrigation technology and crop production. More life skills shall be taught in the course of their studies. Brother Panganai Toperesu is currently teaching these students, the theory of Entrepreneurship.

4.1 POULTRY PROJECT

The poultry project proceeded well. We had three batches. The first had 150 birds while the second had 100 and the third had 150. The last batch is ready for sale. Another cycle will start soon.

4.2 TOMATOES’ PROJECT

The tomato project which began in August is proceeding well. The crop is under drip. Due to limited space we were only able to plant about 1200 plants. Most of the work is done by students so that they get the skills needed in crop production. From the 24th-27th they were busy trellising the tomatoes.

5.0 DONATION

BVBIZ continues to welcome donations both in cash and kind. This month our appreciation goes to the Nation Lectureship for their donation of food items to the school. BVBIZ received the following;

20x500g baked beans,2.50g recoffy, 2x250g recoffy, 13x500g mayonnaise, 14x1l milk, 2x500g popcorn, 3 spice packs, 30 knor packs, 7x2l cooking oil, 1x5l cooking oil, 2x3kg tomato paste, 1x750g recoffy, 1x750g frisco and 4 bags of maize.

CONCLUSION

We praise God for what we were able to do in September. BVBIZ could not have reached this far without the unwavering support we have been receiving. Thank you for your moral, spiritual, financial and material support. We remain grateful. Please keep us in your prayers. To God be the glory!

Your brother,

Mathew Muchingam

Director, BVBI-Z

A special guest in Zambia

We bring warm greetings from Luanshya, Zambia to you Brothers and Sisters!

It is always a great pleasure to write and inform you brethren in this report about what is happening here at Bear Valley Bible Institute-Zambia.

The month of October started on a very high note.  We had Brother Donnie Estep who came and taught the students from 1st October to 5th October 2018. Brother Donnie taught the Prison letters. It is always a great delight to have Brother Donnie come over and teach. We forever look forward to his visit. He is a great encouragement not only to us but to all our students. And all his visits will indeed make an indelible impression on the work of the Lord in this part of the world.

The students are on long break. The break started on 12th October, 2018. This allowed our students to go back home in good time for farming activities. The early rains have already started in some parts of Zambia. November and December are months that the rain is expected to be in full swing here in Zambia.

Gilbert Mulubwa one of our students, reports from Chiengi district in Luapula Province that three members of the Church perished on Luapula River. These members were from his congregation who wanted to cross and go on the other side of Luapula River to visit their relatives. Transportation remains a challenge to most of the people living in some of these areas. They sorely depend on water transportation. We pray for God’s comfort and strength to the bereaved families during this difficult time. We are planning to have on evangelistic campaign in this district next year.

On the other good news, we would like to announce the birth of the New family in the house of the Lord. The entire family that is, husband and wife including their lovely daughter were on 21/10/18 put on Christ. Mathew Sampa and Lilian Sampa and their Daughter Brender are the new born babies in the Lord.  We also had two Old women in their late sixties restored back to sheepfold of the Lord on 7th October, Matha Mubanga and Grace Chanda both of the same compound here in Luanshya had wondered away for the past thirteen years from the Lord and now they are back and active. On 27th October brother Cephas Mwamba Spoke on a funeral of the late Pilius Mwewa of Mikomfwa at the graveyard two members were restored back making the total number of restoration to four (4). We would also like to mention Joseph Musonda one of our former students, he is doing recommendable work for the Lord while working as a bricklayer to keep his family. He is currently enrolled at Mansa Trades Training Institute to advance his building career.

Frederick Mwansa one of our students from Luapula has also continued to heal from his swollen knee. And he prays to join the rest of his fellow students next quarter. Fredrick injured himself after coming from the school campaigns in Mansa, Luapula Province. His injury caused him to miss most of the classes. But he is very much eager to return and continue where he had left. This can also be said about Stanley Masambani who happens to be the oldest student at school. Immediately after coming back from Luapula campaigns, Stanley’s daughter became critically unwell in Lusaka. She was consequently admitted to University Teaching Hospital. Stanley rushed there to be with his daughter. This caused him to miss most of the classes. His daughter has completely recovered, and Stanley looks forward to join his fellow students in the next quarter. He has expressed his gratitude to all the brethren for the thoughts and prayers offered during his daughter’s illness

The rest of our students continue to fare very well in the service of the Lord in their respective congregations. As administration of the school, we will be visiting some of these congregations as a way of encouragement to them.

We are sincerely grateful to Woodland Oaks for the financial support given to the school. We also thank you, brethren, for all the prayers and every encouraging word given for the work here in Zambia. May God richly bless all of you!

Brotherly

Cephas and Fred

Celebrating a new facility in Cameroon

Dearest in Christ,

Greetings from Cameroon. It has been a while since I have sent my report due to my trip with my wife and also the current crisis in Cameroon. The crisis has greatly affected most businesses. There are times that some internet cafés are not open because of fear of the unknown. Therefore, I must drive to Douala to send my report. I am sending this report now from Douala. Please keep our country in your prayers during the ongoing crisis that there shall be a solution in the shortest possible time. Our God is watching and there is nothing He cannot do.

Our students were out for mission work in different locations. They are back safe and sound and classes are on again as they are working to finalized their stay in Wotutu. Graduation will be on the 13th of December 2018 starting at 12 noon. You are highly invited to grace the event with your presence.

Cameroon organized a presidential election and our president, who has been there in power for the past 36 years, still won again. His winning has provoked angered and loss of hope to many Cameroonians who are begging for peace and for change now. Keep our situation in your prayers as we continue to serve Him.

Our new campus has a beautiful and spacious lecture hall. Each student has his own individual seat to keep the spirit of self-development and independency in their work. The lecture hall has a space for the air condition which will serve us a lot when the heat will be over head. The air conditioners will be mounted in the days ahead.

The dining section is great!  It has enough space for everyone to enjoy their meals and to enjoy fellowship with one another.

Evangelist Nda Mesack is teaching now in BVBIC-Wotutu to replace brother Norbert, one of our instructors who passed away in August.  As a first batch student, Brother Mesack has been able to see the development of BVBIC-Wotutu as we have gone from renting a small place and having classes in the worship hall to the present location with a fully enclosed campus. All glory goes to God.

This is the new campus. We are not done yet with the painting, but it looks beautiful already. This building is dedicated purely for the study of the Bible as men are being trained and prepared daily for the Master’s use. Many thanks to STC for their support to make things happen.

 PLANS

Our graduation is coming up on the 13th of December. Please, we are pleading for a gift of megaphones. We will need 19 of them. The graduates will be using them during evangelism in their different places. Please help equip these men with some tools for their work in the field.

 APPRECIATIONS

Thank you very much for your time when I was there with my wife. We appreciate all you did for us and we enjoyed our time together. Thank you for helping to make this work continue. May God’s blessings be with you until He returns to reward His servants.

Elangwe and family

By His grace director of BVBIC-Wotutu

A change of location in Malawi

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE – MALAWI

Greetings from Malawi! I hope this finds everyone while enjoying God’s blessings. We, the Bear Valley Bible Institute - Malawi, want to inform all people that the school has been relocated from the Mzuzu Bible campus to Ekwendeni which is 21km north of Mzuzu. This has been done in order to allow both schools work much more effectively. It has been a good partnership with Mzuzu Bible College, and as we are moving out from the campus, only the place has changed, but we still remain united in the same purpose. This move is with effect from the 31, October, 2018. Saving souls and training men to be faithful preachers is what both schools are aiming at. This news has been gladly received by the whole staff of Mzuzu Bible College and all the students. 

Student’s classes and Holiday!

The calendar of the school is always February to May being in class, and the whole months of June they leave for holiday. This is the first semester, which end up with a gospel campaign in the last week of May. From the holiday, July to October we are in classes, but still having campaigns in the last week of August and last week of September. We do the campaigning work as part of student’s practical work while at school, and this is part of their credit while they receive their training at the college. Right now our students are on holiday until the first week of February, 2019.  The next enrollment will be just after the graduation next year October.

The classes were very good and lot of courses has been completed. About 19 courses have been accomplished. We are looking forward to our Malawi school second graduation next year. Many things have been achieved this year; registration of the school, the new bank account opened under the BV constitution, the salvation for about 193 souls and many more. We thank God for everything. We are asking you brethren to put us and the Lord's work in your prayers as the apostle Paul also wrote to the church of Thessalonians; 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2.

We thank all those who are always willing to support this work. You need to understand that we value your support and many prayers you offer for this work. Without you, nothing would have been accomplished. Eternity Is Forever, Think Souls!

Ephron Vincent Mbano (Director) - On behalf of Bear Valley Malawi staff.

Nearing commencement in Fiji

Graduation is a Week Away!

It has been a long process to get the Bible Institute at Raiwaqa up and going. From spending more than two years raising the funds to move to Fiji to jumping through all of the government hoops necessary to enter into Fiji and get the school registered with the local government, our efforts to establish a school for training preachers, teachers, and evangelists in the South Pacific has certainly seen plenty of challenges. But, all of those challenges are finally about to bear their first fruits! On Saturday, November 3 we will be celebrating our first graduation! Lord willing, we will have five students who will be graduating next week. By then, these students will have completed two years of full-time instruction in forty-eight different courses that have covered the books of the Bible, Bible backgrounds, and ministry related courses. They have worked hard, made great sacrifices, and proven their love for God’s word and kingdom time and time again. We are so proud of each of these students, and we cannot wait to see the great works that they will do in their future service to God’s kingdom! Please join me in praying for these graduates as they complete their two-year training and begin applying the things they have learned in their service to God! 

Campaign to Samoa

From August 3 to August 11, our students participated in a campaign to Aleisa, Samoa. Ten of our students were able to make the trip! They were joined by Rocco and Debbie Pierce (who led the campaign), four local members from the Raiwaqa church of Christ, and Devan, Austin, and Cory Pierce. The Samoa brethren had requested that our students conduct a workshop on the Old Testament book of Job. While our initial reaction was concern for our students being asked to speak on such a difficult topic, the students themselves were not the least bit concerned about it. By all accounts, the students did an outstanding job speaking on the workshop. The Samoan brethren were very pleased with the workshop. Perhaps the greatest thing to come out of this workshop is the knowledge that we have an absolutely outstanding group of students in this program. They are great teachers and leaders. But, more importantly, they are great Christians who love one another and love the Lord! 

Third Term of 2018

It is so hard for me to believe that the third term has already come and gone. Unfortunately for me, most of the third term was marred by sickness that made it difficult to teach and keep up with all of my other responsibilities. But, things worked out and the classes turned out to be some of our most popular classes yet. This term, I taught three classes: 1) 1-2 Timothy and Titus, 2) New Testament Foundation for Missions, and 3) Greek Grammar II. The students did an excellent job in all of these classes. Dad (Rocco) actually ended up teaching four classes this term: 1) Revelation, 2) Church History (A History of Preaching), 3) World Religions, and 4) Introduction to Critical Thinking.

A special note should be mentioned about the Greek and Critical Thinking courses. After two terms of offering Greek, we decided that some of the students might be better served with an alternative class. So, seven our students continued with a third term of Greek, while four students took the class on Critical Thinking. For those electing not to continue in Greek, if they thought they were choosing an easier option, they were mistaken! While the Critical Thinking course was challenging, all four of the students greatly enjoyed it. In fact, the course was successful enough that we have chosen to add it to our regular curriculum for all of our students to take in the future! I really appreciate Dad taking on the extra course load this term. In the future, we have been able to rework the schedule so that he will not have to take on so many classes while also trying to keep up with his responsibilities as the school’s director.

Jason Pierce

Special days in Nepal

Respected brother in Christ,

Greetings to you all in the precious name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. May grace of God, love and peace always be with you.

We are extremely sorry for late reporting from our school. We began our new class from November 2017. We have nine students now.  We have finished our one year Bible study from the books of the entire Bible. Brother Jerry Golphenee had taken books of the Old Testament. Brother Arun and Gajendra had taken books of the New Testament. If the Lord willing our next graduation will be on September 2019.

Lectureship: There was a lectureship in our school on 20th-23rd of March 2018. We had lessons from books of Ephesians and Colossians. We had nearly fifty people were gathered in our class. Our graduated students and preachers were taken classes. 

Ladies seminar: I would like to write brief report about our school activities during last six months.  We had a ladies Bible seminar from June 12-15 of 2018. We had 50+ ladies were participated. We had chosen study books from 1, 2 & 3 John. Many ladies were encouraged from lessons.

Youth camp: We had a Bible study with small numbers of youth's groups in this year. 16-19 of October 2018 were the date of youth camp.  All of our graduated students took class. We enjoyed our classes.

Holiday: we began our five weeks of long holiday from 12th of October 2018. We will start our class from 19th of November 2018. School students and staffs are planning to visit some of our graduated student's home congregations for Bible study, recruiting students for next classes. 

We have Rs. 28,00,000/- (Twenty eight lakhs Rupees)  money from Healing hand international for earthquake affected areas. We will distribute them from October- December of this year. We will use wisely and honestly for the benefit of the people.

Thank you for your love and concern.

Brother in Christ,

Gajendra Deshar  

Making a difference in Togo

Dear brethren,

By the grace of God, we have just completed the month of September in the peace of the Lord.

The activities went well in the month of September.

The students were on break during the month. We had two baptisms at ATAKPAME, and studies with people at the tract distribution center. The students visited and worshipped with several different congregations. There have also been seminars in Lome during the month, where they developed on the theme concerning the maturity of the churches.

Jean-Marc, an evangelist for four years, accompanied one of our students, SABOTEY Koffi, to the town of ATAKPAME which is 102 km away for personal work and they planted a new congregation.

There is a great improvement in the activities of our students during this holiday time with each church visited giving a good testimony concerning the 17 students.

The challenges

We were called to answer a question that has been asked by the government to the men of God in Kpalime:  What contribution do denominations and religious leaders make?

They plan for the whole month to talk about the contribution of churches and religious leaders on 4 radio stations here in this city: radio Maria, Islamic radio, radio Planete Plus, and radio Zion.

We started with a Catholic priest, a Muslim Leader, two Pastors of the denominations, and we from the Church of Christ.

In the end, the ideas of the church of Christ was retained for the rest of the activities. The authorities found more satisfaction in our public teaching and our public conviction, so we were chosen from among all to present the following topics: The duty of the Christian towards his nation and should a Christian go to vote? I addressed these topics with former student HONKOU MAWUNYO.

Former student:

Every first Monday we do two hours of additional training for former students for the things they did not study completely while they were in school.

Evangelist OMOU KOKOU JEAN-MARC

He is a very talented evangelist who manages to set up a congregation quickly.  He is single with a child.  He is often asked to present studies at conferences. He leads a congregation with a membership of 45 members.  He was a pastor in 4 different denominations before he converted during his training here with his friends.  He has a very special talent to convince people with the gospel.  He can go far with the gospel.

Concerning the proposed Saturday program

With regard to the studies planned for members of the denominations on Saturdays, we have registered 16 students at Kpalime and 5 additional ones from ATAKPAME. 

The first ever graduation in Liberia

DEAR BRETHREN,

We wish we have all the right words to express how very grateful we are for your partnership with us for the past two years since the establishment of the Bear Valley bible Institute in Ganta, Republic of Liberia. There were many challenges along the way, but with our collective efforts and your selfless support, we have successful succeeded in training fourteen (14) preachers for the Lord's Work in this part of the world.

GRADUATION

After a successful two years of studies, we finally held our first graduation ceremony on September 15, 2018 at the school campus. What a program it was! We are so happy that everything went very well as expected and planned. In Attendance we had the following personalities:

Steven Ashcraft- West Africa Coordinator for Bear Valley Extension

Frances Musa- Director- Bear Valley Extension In the Republic of Guinea

Peter Barnett- The Dean of Students, Bear Valley Extension in the Republic of Sierra Leone

Churches of Christ ministers across the country

City Authorities

Parents and well wishers etc.

It was wonderful program well attended.

SPEECHES

We were privilege to have brother Steven Ashcraft serving as our graduation Keynote speaker and he did very well encouraging our outgoing students( Graduates) and our incoming students(New Students) to remain focus on the task ahead of all of us. There were also remarks made from Brother Francis from Guinea, Brother Peter from Sierra Leone and other representatives from Churches of Christ Bible Institutions in Liberia. We also heard from the outgoing students prefect (Presidents) encouraging his fellow graduates to be faithful to the Lord and His word they have learned and teach others also.

APPRECIATIONS

It is really a dream come true to have a training school established in Liberia that is a big bust to the Lord's work here in this part of the world. This is being made possible by you through your support and prayers. Our sincere thanks and heartfelt appreciations goes out to all of you involved in supporting this worthy cost around the world. Special acknowledgments goes to the following people:

1. The Elders of The Bear Valley Church

   Brother Keith Kasarjian

   Brother Steven Ashcraft

   My Able Teaching Staff

   The students for their corporations

   Thank you so much for your support and contributions in whatever way it was offer. Without you, this effort and achievements won't have been possible. May God richly bless you and continue to give all of us the require strength to do all we have to do since we still have life in us. Thank you for everything.

Report By:Robert P. Dahn,Jr.

Director- BVBI-Liberia

Muslim conversions in Guinea

Brethren, Guinea Bear Valley Bible Institute, Gueckedou has successfully accomplished the required activities for the month of September 2018. Our gospel radio broadcast continues to attract the attention of the people whose reactions for a greater part is encouraging! The personal evangelism program was also successful in making Heaven rejoice when 3 souls were converted. Below are some details of these and other activities conducted in September summarized under sub-headings.

Classroom: Again, all 17 students went through the period and attended all the required courses for the month of September which was the conclusion of our third quarter classes.

The students’ devotional preaching schedule remains as in the previous months. Namely,  6am, 10am and 8pm.

Our Dean had work hard to help ensure that courses initially assigned to bro Philip Tolno who has been sick were all covered. The brother himself has now returned from Conakry though not yet strong enough to resume work.

Evangelism: Three souls accepted the Lord in baptism. Two of them had started visiting the church for a while plus one who made just a brief visit were all baptized in the month of September.

Brief History of the Converted Muslim -The Lord’s hand against the chief persecutor

The young man, Moses who was converted from Islam in August has been experiencing family rejection, persecution and threats. Brother Moses had been driven from the home of his younger brother’s guardian, Mr Alagi Salu where he had attempted to introduce the gospel. He had been driven and so returned to his mother some 400 klm away, but the persecutor was not satisfied. He launched a threat that he would not rest till one of them depart (dies) this world. Coming to Mamou, where our brother was Mr Alagi encouraged an assembly of family members against Moses so that he (Moses) was insulted, slapped, etc. But this persecutor, Mr. Alagi on his return to Conakry was involved in a vehicle accident and he died on the spot. Fear came upon many!  We are finding ways for brother Moses and his younger brother, Sarju to come to Gueckedou. Please pray for them and their remaining family to see “this truth”.

Air time Radio preaching: Evangelism by the air continues to draw the attention of truth seekers. One young man, Adrien left some 20 klm to come to Gueckedou to see us. We had a good time of Bible discussion. He returned that day, but when he came back the second time Adrien was baptize after the worship on 30th September. Still another young man here in Gueckedou has started to visit the church and we have accepted his invitation to visit his family as soon as he himself returns from the farm.

Conclusion: We are grateful to God and appreciate the Bear Valley supporter for helping us train laborers for the Lord. Our appreciation to brother Steven who supported our travel mission to participate in the Ganta graduation. The Lord protected us through the bad roads! Please remember the Muslim young man, Moses and his younger brother in your prayers.

Yours in Christ.

Francis

Continued success in Accra

Glory to the Most High God and our Lord Jesus Christ for His mercies which abound on us. Peace be with you.

WEEKEND CLASS

The Accra school is always blessed by our Lord for the ongoing of class activities and increase in number. Almost monthly or more, we have an addition, sometimes one, two and three. We are grateful to the Lord and your prayer.

Peacefully, our students are doing well and instructors in good condition with their effective class activities.

Currently, we have 37 students for the weekend while one of them has had a chance to further his education circularly. Currently the class is studying II Corinthians.

WORK OUTPUT

Whereas they pursue their diploma course, they also work effectively at their various congregations as preachers and leaders. Weekly reports are submitted to the schools’ administration to check on their services rendered to the church.

Baptisms are reported when the Lord permits.

The baptisms recorded are Ten (10) persons: Syntyche Ayesu, Ayesu Serwaa, Lilly Mensah, Gakpe Abgeko,James Young Kertulah, Barnabas Manefaa, Juliana Ohenewaa, Happy Korkor and Comfort Tetteh.

ADMINISTRATION MEETING WITH BRO. STEVEN ASHCRAFT

As part of the discourse, issues addressed were new extension of schools in Kasoa, Nsawam, Koforidua and Kumasi; matters of school land, Degree programme and the progressive records of the old schools in Ghana.

Survey is ongoing to get on with the new extension and the Degree programme which is starting in 2019.

Greatly, the brethren are applying for the programme.

EXTERNAL ACTIVITIES

A press conference organized by the Greenfield Scientific Herbal Clinic, Accra as one of the best herbal clinic chosen for international award winning. This calls to the Director of SIBS, brother Emmanuel Odeng Larbi to participate in the officiating servanthood to committing and closing the programme in the name of the Lord in prayer and an exhortation to the members at the gathering.

Finally, we are thankful to the Lord for His mercies in terms of challenges which He sees us through.

As we pray for your growth, also pray with us.

The administration of SIBS

More good news from Ukraine

Dear brothers and sisters as well as anyone who reads Bear Valley Bible Institute in Ukraine news,

It's been a month since the beginning of the new school year. I mentioned before that we have 6 new students. All of them are young people and their grades are very good. In September the 1st year students studied Homiletics (taught by Stanislav Kuropiatnikov), Plan of Salvation and Family Life (by Jim Sherman) as well as How We Got the Bible and Christian Evidences (by Albert Bagdasaryan). The 2nd year students had Ezra, Nehemiah and Ester (Denton Landon), Leadership (Andrew Zhuravlev), Ethics and Intertestamental Period (Dennis Sopelnik) and Greek (Terry Harmon).  

It's a very intense schedule of studies. Every Instructor gives homework that includes writing plans of sermons and study papers. In our experience the first two months of the school year are extremely challenging for our students and later on they are getting used to work load and Institute's rules and policies. Many of our students learn patience, good time management and appreciate the importance of saving souls daily thanks to the rigorous schedule.

Because of such intense schedule our students can't work outside jobs. We are constantly looking for congregations and individual brethren who can help us support training of the future workers in the Kingdom. So, as you see, all parties have to work hard for the success of the Lord's work. Apostle Paul took no small efforts in training the next generation of evangelists. He left us an example of keeping alive and preserving the power of Gospel by teaching the next generation of disciples.

This month we have another great news to share with you. We were able to publish the Commentary on the Book of Isaiah by Jim Mettenbrink in Bila Tserkva. This project was initiated by the author and now a lot of congregations in Ukraine will have teaching aid for this prophetic book study. In the years before such publishing projects used to be carried out in Russia and the books would be shared with the congregations of the neighboring countries. Now Jim Mettenbrink decided to help the church in Ukraine and we are truly thankful for his work and good quality commentary to this Old Testament book.

Due to some logistic changes our Masters course will be taught in Bela Tserkva as well. We are expecting our Masters students in November and, as I understand, it will be the last in class session for them. And then in May of 2019 we have the graduation for both Bachelor and Master degree students. I have high hopes that some of the Masters will become our new Instructors and join our faculty.

Lately I had a very encouraging news. Our 2018 graduate Alexander Belorusov is successfully teaching and preaching in his home town of Zugress that is currently occupied by pro-Russian militants. He courageously meets with the local Christians every Sunday and because of his efforts the church still congregates. I ask for your fervent prayers for the Christians who are in danger of militant, political and religious persecution in the Eastern parts of Ukraine.

We are truly thankful for your support and prayers. We have done a lot together and yet we need to do a lot more.  God bless you!   

Your brother,   

Dennis Sopelnik, Director, BVBI-U

The 3rd graduation in Kenya

Beloved of God,

Greetings, and receive message of thanks and excitements from the Kenya School of Preaching family in Kisumu.

The training of 20 preachers that began two years ago in tiny place called Hellena court which some of you know finally came to an end colorfully in a new campus. Out of the 20 students that were selected, 16 graduated in a colorful event, in a new and more spacious campus that was graced by Dr. Denny Petrillo the president of BVBI as our key note speaker. The entire KSOP team besides being humbled by the tremendous growth is also very thankful and proud of all the brethren that believe and support the training of preachers.

We have high expectations from these men that they will be fruitful because prior to their graduation, they took part in the following:

Sermons preached - 361

Classes taught – 422

Baptisms – 220

Souls restored – 124

Churches restored to true worship – 13 

New Churches planted – 11

Join us in prayers that they will keep the fire burning and have the resources to keep on preaching the gospel of Christ.

During the graduation, we had a special session of dedicating the KSOP library in honor of “CY” Claude Welton Stafford III. I have much more to say on Cy on a personal level but all who know him will acknowledge that Cy’s magnitude of work in the Kingdom will only be known in heaven. His legacy will continue to thrive in the many many souls that he influenced. Thanks Dr. Mike Reese and Dr. Denny, Mike Rowand and Peter Ray for leading the program.

For the first time, KSOP also had two men, Charles Ogutu and Bwambale Raymond from Uganda who graduated with Masters in Biblical Studies from BVBI.

After every graduation, we have to again select other men who have the desire to be preachers to join our two years training program. This year we had the highest number of applicants who had interest in being trained. We had 67 applicants and 33 were serious men, we also had requests from South Sudan but the verbal request came late. 

All the 20 students that we selected have reported to the school and classes have begun. We have another group of great men with much zeal to study the word. God has been so good to us, we pray we won’t lose any of them through the tough journey ahead. Charles is teaching Homiletics, Acts, New Testament Church and English I. While Elias Omolo is teaching Genesis, Synoptic gospel and Personal Evangelism, not easy but we enjoy doing what we love.

Am sorry for not keeping it short. Mike Reese, I have to share this. I received a phone call from Joseph Musando former KSOP graduate giving thanks for the new bicycle. “Teacher Charles, please thank brother Reese for the new bicycle that enabled me to go preach in Kibuye and 8 souls obeyed the gospel” that was on Oct 7.

Blessings to you all brethren, do not grow weary in doing good.

His servant and yours

Charles Ogutu – Director KSOP.